World

MALE,  (Reuters) – One week after taking power, the new government of the Maldives says it has no idea how much it owes China, which has led a construction spree in the tiny Indian Ocean nation, but fears the debts run up in the past five years could be unsustainable.

KARACHI,  (Reuters) – Three suicide attackers stormed the Chinese consulate in the Pakistani city of Karachi amid a series of gunshots and an explosion yesterday, but were killed before they could force their way in with a car packed with explosives, police said.

BRUSSELS/HAVANA,  (Reuters) – Spanish reservations over Gibraltar yesterday prevented the European Union clearing the last hurdle before the bloc signs off its Brexit deal with Britain, with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez saying a summit tomorrow could be called off.

(Reuters) – Climate change will cost the U.S. economy hundreds of billions of dollars by the end of the century, hitting everything from health to infrastructure, according to a government report issued yesterday that the White House called inaccurate.

COLOMBO,  (Reuters) – Sri Lankan lawmakers opposed to new Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa took control of parliament’s main committee yesterday after his supporters walked out, saying the house speaker was biased.

TEGUCIGALPA,  (Reuters) – The brother of Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez was arrested yesterday in the United States on drug trafficking charges, the Honduran government said.

KARACHI, Pakistan  (Reuters) – Three suicide attackers stormed the Chinese consulate in the Pakistani city of Karachi amid a series of gunshots and an explosion on Friday, but were killed before they could get into the building in a car packed with explosives, police said.

BRUSSELS/LONDON,  (Reuters) – Britain and the European Union have agreed a draft text setting out a close post-Brexit relationship, though wrangling with Spain over control of Gibraltar must still be settled before EU leaders meet on Sunday in order to rubber-stamp the pact.

ISTANBUL,  (Reuters) – A Turkish newspaper reported on Thursday CIA director Gina Haspel signaled to Turkish officials last month that the agency had a recording of a call in which Saudi Arabia’s crown prince gave instructions to “silence” Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

MADRID/HAVANA,  (Reuters) – Spanish premier Pedro Sanchez agreed with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel to deepen bilateral political ties on Thursday, at the start of the first official visit by a Spanish leader to the Communist-run country in three decades.

CAPE TOWN, (Reuters) – Equatorial Guinea has ordered energy companies to stop doing business with oil and gas service firm Subsea 7 because the firm failed to comply with laws aimed at creating more local jobs, the oil minister said yesterday.

BRASILIA,  (Reuters) – The first of thousands of Cuban doctors began to return home yesterday after criticism by Brazil’s far-right President-elect Jair Bolsonaro prompted Cuba’s government to sever a cooperation agreement, leaving millions of Brazilians without medical care.

WELLINGTON,  (Reuters) – Low-lying Vanuatu is considering suing fossil fuel companies and industrialised countries that use them for their role in creating catastrophic climate change, the foreign minister of the Pacific island nation said on Thursday.

GENEVA, (Reuters) – The U.N. agency for HIV and AIDS has placed its country director for Nigeria on administrative leave following allegations of sexual harassment, a spokeswoman said on Thursday.

(Reuters) – U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts defended the independence of the federal judiciary yesterday a day after President Donald Trump called a judge who ruled against his policy barring asylum for certain immigrants an “Obama judge,” but Trump rejected the rebuke, chided Roberts and launched a new round of attacks.

JOHANNESBURG,  (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund said yesterday that it would help Mozambique conduct an analysis of its corruption challenges and urged the southern African country to hold people accountable for previously undisclosed debts.

NATAL AIR FORCE BASE, Brazil,  (Reuters) – The air forces of 14 nations including the United States are taking part this week in air combat exercises and non-conventional warfare training at a base in northern Brazil, the Brazilian Air Force said on Wednesday.

PANAMA CITY,  (Reuters) – The two sons of jailed former Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli have been arrested in Miami and face extradition back home on money-laundering charges, Panama’s attorney general said yesterday.

(Reuters) – Venezuela’s former national treasurer admitted receiving over $1 billion in bribes as part of illicit foreign currency operations that involved a local television mogul now indicted in U.S.

BRUSSELS/LONDON,  (Reuters) – Prime Minister Theresa May said she would be returning to Brussels on Saturday to hammer out an outline of Britain’s future ties with the European Union after her meeting with the head of the bloc’s executive yesterday failed to bridge the gaps.